CPB Contractors to build East Perth's four-storey vertical primary school

CPB Contractors has been awarded the design and construct contract for East Perth Primary School (planning name), a four-storey school taking shape on the former Queens Gardens car park in central Perth. The WA Government announced the award on 12 September 2026, and CIMIC said main works were scheduled to start in October 2026.

The $165 million project will give inner-city families a local public primary school for around 600 students from kindergarten to Year 6, with the first students expected in Term 1, 2029. Education Minister Sabine Winton said in March that "for the first time in 50 years", Perth children will be able to attend a public primary school in the CBD.

Project at a glance

From early involvement to main works

CPB first joined the project in late 2025 under an early contractor involvement (ECI) contract, an arrangement where the builder works alongside the designers before the main contract is let. That phase covered co-design with the architects, earthworks and demolition of the Queens Gardens car park.

With the design settled, the state has now awarded the design and construct (D&C) contract, where one contractor is responsible for finishing the design and building it. CPB Contractors Managing Director Craig Nuttall said the ECI phase helped optimise the design, improve constructability and give the client greater cost and delivery certainty. CIMIC Group Chief Executive Jason Spears said the school's sustainable design and inclusive learning spaces will help set a new benchmark for the delivery of primary schools in WA.

The $165 million figure is the government's total project budget. The planning report for the main works put the construction value at about $120 million; the value of CPB's contract has not been published.

What a vertical school looks like here

When the design contract was announced in January 2025, then Education Minister Dr Tony Buti described East Perth as the first vertical public primary school in WA. Instead of spreading single-storey classroom blocks across a large campus, the design stacks learning spaces in a four-storey, U-shaped teaching block along Horatio Street and Nelson Crescent.

The planning report explains the thinking: the design maximises the efficiency of the built footprint to increase access to landscape and outdoor learning on the 1.76-hectare site. Outdoor learning areas are spread across multiple levels, and the building shelters a central play space called the "Heart" from prevailing winds. Height is capped at four storeys to protect view corridors and limit overshadowing of Queens Gardens.

The teaching block will hold eight kindergarten and pre-primary learning areas, 16 general learning areas for Years 1 to 6, 13 specialist classrooms and flexible spaces, a library and administration. A separate hall building on Waterloo Crescent will house the assembly space, two specialist classrooms, a canteen and out-of-hours school care. Outside, there will be a sports field, two multi-sport courts and landscaping by UDLA that keeps four significant trees.

CIMIC says the build will use responsibly sourced steel, lower-carbon concrete, and textured precast concrete and aluminium façades.

Why central Perth needs it

The school is planned for population growth in central Perth, including the East Perth Riverside redevelopment area, and will ease enrolment pressure on Highgate Primary School. Its notional intake area covers East Perth, Northbridge and the CBD.

Freeing the land took legislation. The Queens Gardens Car Park (Inner City School) Act 2024 repealed a 1960 Act that had restricted the site's use, and transferred the land to the Minister for Education. Because the site is close to public transport, the design includes just 22 parking bays, mostly short-term drop-off spaces, plus storage for 176 bikes and scooters. The playing field, courts and hall will also be available for community use outside school hours.

What's next

• October 2026: Main works scheduled to start on site, according to CIMIC.
• June 2028: Completion target in the November 2025 planning report for the main works, which assumed a June 2026 start.
• Term 1, 2029: School opens to its first students.
• Later stage: The design allows the school to grow by a further 200 students, to 800.

Published 4 November 2026 · Updated 27 October 2026